Product Description

America in the 19th century: railroads are booming! Pioneer spirit and vision are
everywhere. Everyone wants to be the first to build a railroad network across the
country. Each player gets a set of five cities and must build a network (with the
help of the other
players) to connect all
five cities. The first
player to connect his
five cities wins the
round. The others lose
points based on how
far their unconnected
cities are from the
network. Who will be
the first to connect his
cities? Is it Casey, who
was the first to build
through the mountains
to the west? Or Annie,
who was the one who
best made use of the
others' tracks?

Product Reviews

I got this game for my birthday about 6 months ago but it had not been
the first time I played it. In my family, we have a tendancy to all
pick up the same game at any given time and for some reason, trans
america was that game. For the life of me, I don't know why. Each
player randomly picks cities that they have to connect with rail
roads. OK, sounds fine. You get to place two every turn, unless you
are going over a river. OK, again, a little strategic. You can build
into other people's tracks and use them. OK... connect your cities.
Done. What this game ends up being is a stand off to who can play the
longest without getting bored, and the loser finally says "Fine! I'll
build my track close to you because I have to get to one of my
cities." Then everyone else hops on his track and the game is usually
over in two turns. Flatly, the game is just not that fun. It's a
trial in patience and if you have children, it may be a good learning
tool. But like candy land, as soon as your children are able to play
a different, more complicated game, they probably should. Anyway,
trans america isn't all that expensive so if you must try it out by
all means, I hope you can enjoy it.

After some time away, I felt compelled to give some review love to
several games that we have found keep coming out of the game closet
over and over again, all for different reasons. Sometimes, a few hours
are available with deep strategists who enjoy the intricacies of
multi-phase, hybrid-optioned intertwining. Other times, folks are in
the mood for beating one another competitively under the burden of
points scores in various card or tile games for nightly bragging rights.

At times, a portable, easy to learn/setup, and fast playing simple
game with a touch of strategy and luck fits the bill. One of these
games (but arguably much more abstract) that I'd recommend for
reinvigoration is Pyramidis. Another that is equally playable amongst
various ages and gamer backgrounds is Trans America.

I'll oversight the play-rules courtesy of the many other related
reviews (essentially: pick 5 cards designating cities to link to, set
a start point, play 2 rails each turn until all 5 are connected)
except to point out that you've now basically learned the game. The
luck involved is in two dimensions: the initial pull of your 5 cities,
and in the laydown of rails from the other players. While there's not
a huge amount of variance available given the size of board/# of
cities/#of players, it's suitable for a new-feeling game each time you
play.

The strategy is arguably minimal but overlooked (I believe) in the
depth of options available when one places their 2 rails each turn.
This (combined with choice of start spot) helps inject newness to each
round and offers sufficient top-level strategies to emerge (Go
straight? Hop onto someone else's rails remora-like and share the
benefit? Divert myself away from the actual places to confuse fellow
travelers but take time doing it?). Some other opportunities get
missed by the casual player (when to touch others rails is a key
decision, what negatives may occur if one routes through cities you
don't need but others might, etc.), taking what might seem a touch
rote and senseless-placement based into more of a fun,
socially-affected tactic space.

Some expectation do's and don'ts: Do expect this to be a short
(15-20min per round) enjoyable game best with 4 that holds up for the
several rounds needed to complete the game. Don't expect this to be
cutthroat me-against-all-of-you type play that appeals to the "stick
it to the other player" type (at best you can annoy by connecting
rails to another player early or by building your rails in lines not
terribly helpful to the others). Do expect this to be around for
several years of play and a nice augment to other rail games such as
Ticket to Ride (for those wanting their connecting from A-B Jones
handled but also with more risk and "block me" options), Rail Baron
(oldie but a goodie with more of an economic/Monopoly angle to
building your routes), and others (Express, anyone?). Do not expect a
richly detailed backstory, Black Forest/handcrafted game piecery
(simple black rails are however complemented by a pretty board), deep
strategic option play-based (I can't stop a player's progress? Blow up
their train? Slyly divert their rail building in another direction? -
oh, wait - can do that one...) type of game.

The only minus for play I'd offer is the inevitable crashing of one's
train off the status bridge that notes the loser's inability to
connect cities faster than the opponents - an odd points-tracking
metaphor at best (You were first! You get to...keep your train in the
station, while the losers...work their way towards certain doom!?) and
personally better if replaced by a "whose train traveled the
farthest" approach. Perhaps it's more of an incentive to play well
knowing your train may be sent tragically to its end...? Oh well.

Enough verbiage, quick summary: Very playable, flexible, simple game,
fun (and winnable) with all ages/experience players. With the
exception of constantly losing the many rail pieces amongst the
silverware, one could consider it a restaurant/travel game (better for
motel bed /floor play). Go-get-play-enjoy-repeat.

J. K.

by

This is a great game!

January 02, 2006

My son got this as a birthday present from my sister, and we've
played it everyday since. It is a definite favorite in our
household. We've shared it with others and it is on our
shopping
list whenever we need to buy for a birthday - it is the best
game
we've played in a long while.

Very light and entertaining, TransAmerica will please even the less experienced gamer. A map of the United States is arranged in a grid of triangles, with cities at some intersections. Each person picks one city card at random from each of five regions, and then places his starting marker at a chosen intersection. Players vie to be the first to connect all their cities by rails that are laid along the sides of the triangles. You can lay two rails on a turn unless you are crossing a mountain or river, in which case you can only lay one rail. To play several rounds, keep score by penalizing the losing players the number of rails by which they're short of their goal. You can connect two rail networks, but would that aid another player more than it would help you? It's a decision to chew-chew on.

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